In the old days of internet poker, everyone seemed to be giving away money. You never had to deposit any money to play for real money on a site because there were so many promotions available. Time has changed things a bit, and these free money giveaways are not so common anymore.

But just like some websites are making money through rakeback programs by promoting certain gaming sites, there are still some free money promotions to be found as well.

PokerSourceOnline.com (PSO) is a site that offers promotions and rakeback and all kinds of incentives for new poker players. I recently came across an offer for both Ultimate Bet (UB) and Absolute Poker. PSO is offering new players to these sites a free $50 starting deposit with the gaming sites doing a 100% match. The only catch is that you must reach a certain number of raked hands or earn enough “points” to be able to cash out any of the money.

Now, both of these sites have been shrouded with scandals. UB issued paybacks to many players for their having been cheated over a number of years. It was deduced that a certain player, whose account information linked to one of the owners, Russ Hamilton, had been granted access to see everyone’s hole cards. So, when he played, he played with all of the information about his opponent’s hands. Needless to say, he did very well and many good poker players lost lots of money.

Now, I would not deposit any of my own money on these sites, but I can’t argue with free money. If I lose the money, I’m done with the site. If I turn it into a lot, I’ll have to rethink my stance on the site, and decide if it’s worth keeping any amount of money on there. For now, it’s worth a shot.